Nakon dugog puta najprije se želim osvježiti hladnim tušem.

Because nakon means after and it requires the genitive case.

So:

• nakon = after
• dugog puta = of a long trip / after a long trip in the genitive

Breakdown:

• dug → dugog (masculine singular genitive of dug, long)
• put → puta (genitive singular of put, trip/journey)

This is a very common pattern in Croatian:

• nakon sastanka = after the meeting
• nakon ručka = after lunch
• nakon dugog puta = after a long trip

Yes. Nakon and poslije can both mean after here.

So you could also say:

• Poslije dugog puta najprije se želim osvježiti hladnim tušem.

Both are natural. A rough learner-friendly distinction:

• nakon often sounds a bit more neutral or formal
• poslije is very common in everyday speech too

Both take the genitive:

• nakon puta
• poslije puta

Najprije means first, first of all, or before anything else.

In this sentence, it tells you the order of actions: after the trip, the speaker wants to freshen up first.

Yes, prvo is often interchangeable:

• Nakon dugog puta prvo se želim osvježiti hladnim tušem.
• Nakon dugog puta najprije se želim osvježiti hladnim tušem.

Both are fine. Najprije can sound a little more deliberate or slightly more formal, but in many contexts the difference is small.

Because the verb here is osvježiti se, which means to freshen up / refresh oneself.

Without se, osvježiti is usually transitive, meaning to refresh something or someone:

• Osvježio sam piće. = I cooled/refreshed the drink.
• Osvježiti lice = to refresh the face

But:

• osvježiti se = to refresh oneself / freshen up

So the se is important because the subject is doing the action to themselves.

This is because se is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go near the beginning of the clause, not at the end.

So Croatian prefers:

• Želim se osvježiti.
• Najprije se želim osvježiti.

Not usually:

• Želim osvježiti se. ❌

Even though se belongs in meaning with osvježiti, its position is controlled by Croatian clitic placement rules.

That is why this sentence has:

• najprije se želim osvježiti

A useful thing to remember: in English you can think want to freshen up, but in Croatian the little word se often moves forward in the sentence.

Because osvježiti se is perfective, and here it refers to a single completed action: freshening up once after the trip.

• osvježiti se = to freshen up once / to become refreshed
• osvježavati se = to be freshening up repeatedly, habitually, or over time

In this sentence, the speaker means one concrete action they want to do next, so osvježiti se is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Želim se osvježiti. = I want to freshen up.
• Ljeti se često osvježavam tušem. = In summer I often refresh myself with a shower.

Hladnim tušem is in the instrumental case.

The instrumental is often used to express the means or method by which something is done. Here it means:

• with a cold shower
• literally, by means of a cold shower

Breakdown:

• hladan → hladnim (instrumental singular)
• tuš → tušem (instrumental singular)

So:

• osvježiti se hladnim tušem = to freshen up with a cold shower

This is a very common use of the instrumental in Croatian.

Here hladnim tušem means with a cold shower, so it refers to the shower as the means of refreshing.

In practice, the whole phrase naturally suggests taking a cold shower.

Croatian often uses a structure like this where English might prefer a different one:

• osvježiti se hladnim tušem
  literally: refresh oneself with a cold shower

So even if the wording is not identical to English, the meaning is perfectly natural.

No, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, because the cases show how the words relate to each other.

This sentence is natural as written:

• Nakon dugog puta najprije se želim osvježiti hladnim tušem.

But other versions are also possible, for example:

• Nakon dugog puta želim se najprije osvježiti hladnim tušem.
• Najprije se nakon dugog puta želim osvježiti hladnim tušem.
  (possible, but less neutral in tone)

The differences are mostly about emphasis and style, not basic meaning.

However, one important limit remains: the clitic se cannot just go anywhere.

Because Croatian does not have articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• hladnim tušem can mean with a cold shower
• depending on context, Croatian does not need a separate word for a

This is normal in Croatian:

• Imam knjigu. = I have a book / the book
• Vidim auto. = I see a car / the car

The exact meaning is usually clear from context.

It is the standard way to say want to do something.

So:

• želim = I want
• osvježiti se = to freshen up

Together:

• želim se osvježiti = I want to freshen up

This is a very common pattern:

• Želim jesti. = I want to eat.
• Želim spavati. = I want to sleep.
• Želim se odmoriti. = I want to rest.

In your sentence, the speaker is saying what they want to do first after the trip.